Gaza peace plan agreed 'ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon'

A major breakthrough in the two-year conflict in Gaza appears to be taking place, with Israel and Hamas agreeing to the "first phase" of the US peace plan, with the release of hostages and prisoners on both sides.

President Trump announced the breakthrough on Wednesday night, saying: "This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace."

With concerns among Hamas leadership that Israel could continue its military operation once the hostages are released, as well as concerns in Israel that Hamas will not put down its weaponry, Trump added: "All Parties will be treated fairly!"

The agreement follows days of talks in Egypt between Hamas and Israeli representatives, mediated by Qatar, with both sides urged to hash out an agreement over Trump's peace plan for Gaza - where 67,000 people have been killed and two million displaced.

Both Hamas and Israel's cabinet have now publicly backed the deal following the success of these negotiations in Sharm El-Sheikh, which will see Israeli troops withdraw from the vast majority of Gaza behind a proposed "yellow line" in the coming days, as well as the reopening of aid corridors into Gaza.

While details of the deal have not yet been published, local Arabic media have indicated that 400 aid trucks will be allowed to enter the territory on a daily basis for the first five-days of the ceasefire. In return, the 48 Israeli citizens being held hostage by Hamas and other groups will be returned, though less than half are believed to still be alive following their kidnapping on October 7, 2023.

251 people were taken hostage during the October 7 attack, 148 of whom were either freed as part of previous ceasefire negotiations or rescued by Israeli forces. All 20 of the remaining living hostages will be released by Hamas this weekend, sources told Associated Press, with the IDF beginning its withdrawal in tandem.

As the ceasefire agreement and hostage release became public, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on X, "With God's help, we will bring them all home." He later added that it was "a great day for Israel" before thanking his military and Donald Trump for making the deal possible.

In a statement announcing the "cessation of the war of extermination against our Palestinian people", Hamas celebrated the withdrawal of IDF troops from the Gaza Strip and praised Trump's effort to stop the war.

It reads: "We highly appreciate the efforts of our mediator brothers in Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, and we value the efforts of US President Donald Trump aimed at definitively stopping the war and the complete withdrawal of the occupation from the Gaza Strip."

But with an end to the conflict in its very earliest stages, the proscribed militant Islamist group also demanded guarantees from the nations involved in the peace talks.

Hamas' statement continued: "We call on President Trump, the guarantor states of the agreement, and various Arab, Islamic, and international parties to compel the occupation government to fully implement the agreement's obligations and not allow it to evade or delay the application of what has been agreed upon."

It has not yet been made clear if the more contentious parts of Trump's peace plan for Gaza, which included the potential instating former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as the territory's transitional ruler during the reconstruction process. Hamas also gave no indication whether they would demilitarise and relinquish power, as demanded in the plan.